


Step Into the Shadows

by ScribbleWriting65



Series: Shadows [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Childhood, First Meetings, Gen, Partnership
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 12:42:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15630903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScribbleWriting65/pseuds/ScribbleWriting65
Summary: Fear takes us many places. The darkness brings change.





	1. A New Friend

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! This is the origin story for my game Shadows, and is meant to be the very first in my written works' timeline. This story chronicles the first meeting between Slim and Shade, so there will be a significant difference between the characters in this story and my other story, Balance and Memories. Thanks for reading, and don't be afraid to voice your opinions in the comments!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! This is the origin story for Shadows universe and chronicles the first meeting between Slim and Shade, so there will be a significant difference between the characters in this story and my other story, Balance and Memories. Thanks for reading, and don't be afraid to voice your opinions in the comments!

It was happening again, and once again, he was terrified.

The 9-year old boy was in the corner of the living room, his usual hiding place whenever he heard intense arguments in his home, especially between his parents. Uncontrollable shakes consumed his body as he heard shouts from both masculine and feminine voices that the young boy identified as his father’s and mother’s respectively. 

He hated seeing people fight, especially those he loved, as the sight of these good people being so mean when they normally really liked each other was scary for the young child. To escape the fear, he always went to the corner of the living room where he hid in the room’s shadows as best he could from the terror of conflict.

“Please stop fighting, please stop fighting, please stop fighting…” he repeated like a mantra, hoping his whispering pleas would calm his mom and dad down and put everything like they were before. Why couldn’t they get along? Didn’t they really like each other? He heard them say nice things to each other throughout his life, so why they would be mean to each other like this escaped his mind.

All that was there was the reaction of closing his eyes, tears pouring down his eyes and quiet sniffles and whimpers escaping his mouth as his mind repeated the idea of “get away, get away, get away, get away…” The command drove out all other functions, except for a powerful instinct pulling at him, almost like a rope pulling him somewhere else.

The sound of his fighting parents drowned out of his ears, overridden by his fear, desire to leave, and the whooshing of wind all around him. He didn’t know where he was going, but he didn’t care at the moment as his eyes and other senses failed him. 

Unbeknownst to him, the room’s shadow was swallowing him whole, fulfilling his heart’s desire to escape. Eyes still closed, the boy couldn’t observe his surroundings, currently being in an extremely dark, nearly pitch-black tunnel. Echoes of his parents yelling, accompanied by a whooshing wind, surrounded the boy before suddenly coming to a dead silence just as fast as they came.

When the boy opened his eyes, it was unlike anything he had seen in his life. The sky was a dark purple, and the street corner he found himself at was filled with gray, nearly black, structures that resembled a typical city block. Street lamps shone with a light purple glow illuminating the dark street, the only sounds present being the boy’s choked sobs and the wind. Being consumed by fear as he was, the boy didn’t notice the added sound of footsteps approaching him.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” A conniving, almost sinister voice chuckled. The boy jumped with a small shriek, looking at the voice’s source with pure terror in his eyes. The figured did a subtle second take, noticing that the boy’s eyes were a bright yellow, even though he could’ve sworn they were hazel a minute ago.

“Oohh, is the little brat lost?” The figure teased. The boy merely looked at him, his mind frazzled from all that’s happened in the span of a few minutes.

“Where a-am I?”

“You’re in the Shadows, kid.”

“Where’s m-my m-mom and dad?”

“Don’t know, don’t care.”

“I-I w-wanna go home!”

“Look, you little Light Brat, I don’t care what the hell you want.”

“Can you help me?”

The figure stopped, debating on what to do with the pipsqueak in front of him. He wanted nothing more than to kill the runt, but something in him caused hesitation. “What’s wrong with me? Am I growing soft?” he thought. 

“Ah, screw it.” The figure said with a huff. He approached the shriveling boy, out of tears, but still shaking with fear and uncertainty. The figure knelt down and looked the boy in his now darkened yellow eyes.

“What’s your name kid?”

“I-i-it’s, it’s, it’s-“

“C’mon kid. We ain’t got all day.”

“M-m-my n-name is, it’s…”

“Y’know what, why don’t I just call you Slim, seeing as how you’re shaking like the smallest breeze can lift you away.”

“O-o-okay. What’s your name?”

“You can just call me Shade, kid.”

“O-okay.”

Shade held out his hand, which Slim took in hope and apprehension, making his eyes change from pure yellow to a yellow-green. Shade found this kid odd, and made a mental note of asking Slim about his eyes later. When their hands connected, a sort of spark rushed through both of their bodies and reverberated down to their souls.

“Agh!” Shade threw his hand back in pain and surprise, which caused Slim to fall back on his backside with a grunt of pain. Despite this, Slim was left with a strange sense of calm numbness in his heart, and Shade with an odd, burning, and unfamiliar feeling that he’d never felt before. Shade looked at his still-burning hand, finding that the burn was mostly numb already, yet his skin was a light grey color instead of its regular neutral grey color.

“Kid, what the hell did you do!?” Shade said with a dark echo in his aggressive voice.

“I-I-I don’t know!” Slim said with a weak tone of voice. Slim was now looking at his own hand, where the pain was also gone, but now his veins and skin had grayed slightly from its regular pure Caucasian color.

“Well, neither of us are dead, so I guess that’s a plus.” Shade said with a slight relief to his tone, which was supported by his hand returning to its natural color. He looked over to the boy, who was still looking at his grayed hand with a look of fascination on his face, his eyes having changed from yellow-green to pure brown. Looking up from his hand, Slim saw Shade look at him with what looked like frustration and regret on his face. However, something in his very bones told Slim he could trust the mysterious Shade, so he grabbed Shade’s extended hand and pulled himself up.

“Alright kid, listen up, ‘cus I’m only gonna say this once,” Shade said, “the Shadows is a dangerous place for freaks like you, so stay close to me if you want to live.”

“Okay. But how do I go back home?”

“I don’t know. You just popped up here, as far as I’m concerned. Why and how did you get here anyway?”

“I dunno how I got here, but my mommy and daddy were being mean to each other, and I had to get away.”

“Okay, that doesn’t help me at all.”

Slim couldn’t help the shocked look that appeared on his face, his eyes already starting to wet.

“D-does that mean that I-I’m stuck here forever?”

“I hope not. C’mon kid, help me out here!” Shade said, holding the bridge of his nose with his hand. “Look, something happened that caused you to come here, so something has to get you out. I’m sure as hell not being your babysitter forever.”

“O-okay! I’m trying!” Slim said with a breaking voice, his legs threatening to collapse from the pressure of his situation.

“Kid, kid! Look, I don’t care what happens to you, I just don’t want to lug you around forever. I know you want to go home, so think of anything that can help us.”

Shade and Slim sat on the ground with their bodies facing each other, each thinking of a way to get Slim home. Ideas were constantly going through each other’s heads, with both of them vocalizing some ideas, only to have them rejected by the other. A long hour had passed before Shade’s red eyes glowed like rubies, a smirk growing on his face as he looked at Slim, who had his eyes tightly shut in concentration.

“Kid, I think I’ve got somethin’.”

“Really? What is it? Tell me!”

“Ok, ok. Remember how you said you were afraid when you got here? How you had to get away from your fighting folks?”

“Yeah. How does that help me?”

“You need to think happy thoughts. Reasons why you would want to go back.”

“I-I don’t know if that’ll-“

“For God’s sake kid, just do it already! I’ve had enough of your whiny ass for a lifetime.” Shade nearly shouted.

Slim jumped from Shade’s reply with a squeak, but agreed on his idea after a brief consideration. “O-okay. I’ll try.”

Slim closed his eyes, envisioning all of the happy pieces of his life in his home world. Helping his mother bake a pie. His father reading to him as he drifted off to sleep. All 3 of them playing together with his favorite knight toys and fast video games.

Unbeknownst to Slim, he started to glow, the ground around him shifting from its natural gray color to a golden hue before finally settling at a yellow-white light encircling his sitting form. Shade simply looked on, happy to finally see the brat gone from his home. However, one thing he didn’t expect was to see Slim open his eyes as he was slowly sinking into the light. Slim’s eyes changed color one last time from a blue-green color, his facing shifting into a smile of gratitude.

“Thank you Shade for helping me!”

Shade simply scoffed and crossed his arms with a smirk. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now get out of here, and don’t come back.”

“Thanks again! I won’t forget this!”

“Whatever, just leave already!”

And with that, the light around Slim faded away as his body finally vanished from sight. Shade put his hands in his pockets and walked away, thanking whatever divine powers were out there that the Light Brat was out of his hair and his life.


	2. A New Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slim returns home, only to find an exciting possibility that will change his life forever.

Slim opened his eyes to the familiar sight of his home’s living room, right from the corner where he hid from his parents’ fighting. The lights were off, and upon looking out the nearby window, Slim realized that it was nighttime, the full moon sitting high in the sky.

 

Slim breathed a sigh of relief, thankful for being home, Shade’s help, and the fact that his house was silent. He walked down the hall to his small bedroom, falling into his bed in a heap of exhaustion. With the day’s events running mad in his mind, Slim was quickly allowing himself to be consumed by his body’s need for rest and recovery after his strange encounter.

 

“Goddammit kid, do you ever shut up!?”

 

Slim jumped and immediately rose from his bed, looking around his room for the source of the familiar voice.

 

“You won’t find me in there.” 

“Where are you?”

“Why would I tell you? Its not like I wanted this to happen.”

“What is happening?”

“How the hell should I know?”

 

Slim sat back down on his bed, thoroughly confused with the current events. Despite considering Shade a friend, Slim was happy to be back home, away from that strange place that felt familiar, but wasn’t at the same time.

 

“What did I say before, kid? Shut up!”

“But I didn’t say anything, I’m just thinking.”

“Great, now we can hear what the other is thinking. Awesome.”

“Do you want to come in?”

 

“What, you think I can just waltz out of my world like you apparently can?” Shade replied with clear frustration and what seemed like exhaustion in his voice. Slim contemplated how he could get his new friend to come see him, but making sure to keep his thoughts quiet in order to alleviate Shade’s frustration. The only experience he had with this sort of thing was from Shade’s observation of fear as a motivator. But this created a problem, as Shade had only shown frustration at Slim’s presence and pleasure at his trips during his time in the Shadows.

 

“Listen kid, if I try something, will you please shut up and leave me alone?”

“Yeah!”

“Alright. Is the room around you dark at all?”

“Yeeeah, its nighttime right now. Why?”

“Slim, just leave it to me, alright?”

“O-okay.”

 

Slim sat on his bed, looking around at the moonlit room, quickly noticing that something was odd with the shadow by the door. It seemed to get darker than the other shadows. Along with that, a subtle, nearly unidentifiable red began to appear at two small but slowly growing points in the shadow itself. Soon the glow solidified and brightened, the two points becoming eyes, and a subtle but noticeable outline of a body appeared right behind the eyes, completing the irritated but smirking figure that was Shade.

 

“Shade!”

“Huh. Well whaddaya know. Seems like I can only stay in shadows, though. Sounds good to me, if your world is crappy like this place.”

“Thanks again for-“

“Save it. I only did it to get you out of my hair, but it looks like we’re stuck with each other.”

“I don’t mind. Do you?”

 

Shade looked at Slim with a bewildered look on his face. He was from a world of darkness where everyone he ever knew at least disliked each other, and this kid wanted him around? Shade didn’t know what to think, until a special idea came to his head. This brat wants him around? Fine. But Shade was going to do everything in his power to make Slim regret that decision, while having some fun at making him suffer for his ignorance.

 

“Eh, why the hell not.” Shade huffed with indifference. “Sure thing, _friend_.”

 

Slim nodded at Shade with a smile on his face, sitting back on his bed, his newly renewed energy leaving his body as he settled in for a long peaceful sleep. As his eyes drifted shut, Slim couldn’t help but feel excited at the new possibilities that came from his mysterious friend.


End file.
